


The Visit

by Red_Lenses



Series: The Second War For Earth [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Kindergarten (Steven Universe)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Lenses/pseuds/Red_Lenses
Summary: Amethyst witnesses an unexpected visitor arriving at the Kindergarten.
Series: The Second War For Earth [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689916
Kudos: 8





	The Visit

The muffled thump of footsteps against bare earth was the only sound to be heard within the canyon. To anyone else it would seem the gloomiest place on the planet. Not a single blade of grass could sprout from the depleted soil. No animal dared to make its home in the evenly-spaced holes lining the towering walls, which blocked out all but the most feeble rays of sunlight. It was a massive scar on the planet’s surface, a dead zone which could never sustain life again.

For Amethyst, though, it had once been home.

With a quiet ‘hup!’ she vaulted atop a rock taller than herself. She gave its surface an affectionate pat as she settled herself astride it. The extra height did nothing to help her survey the area, but she didn’t particularly care. There was nothing much to survey anyway other than plain rock and the long-dormant Injectors that littered the canyon.

She leaned back against her arms and stared at the sliver of sky visible beyond the cliffs. At that moment a bright beam of light cut through the blue, headed straight for the nearby warp pad.

“What the…?” Amethyst sat up straighter as the warp pad lit up, a frown playing across her face. Nobody else should be coming here. As far as she knew, she was the only Gem on the planet who had a reason to visit the Kindergarten.

Which meant whoever had come here might not be from Earth.

The realization was like being doused with icy water. Before the light could fully fade she had jumped down from her rock and dived into the nearest hole. There she crouched in the shadows, watching around the edge of the rock with wide eyes as the light receded to reveal a green Gem she had never seen before.

The newcomer paused for a moment atop the warp pad to get her bearings before stepping off. With one foot in front of the other for balance, she slid carefully down the cliffside to land on the canyon floor, where she straightened up and glanced around for any sign of movement. She was around Pearl’s height, Amethyst guessed, quickly comparing her to the nearest exit hole. Almost immediately she found herself distracted when she realized this Gem’s fingers seemed to be entirely detached from her body and floating freely in the air.

Almost as soon as that occurred to Amethyst, the unfamiliar Gem raised one hand into the air before her. Four of her fingers left their positions and assembled themselves into a loose square in midair as a screen expanded into existence between them. Amethyst ducked deeper into the shadows, certain now of her suspicions. With technology like that, this could only be a Homeworld Gem.

_This is it. It’s starting._

The stranger was speaking in a low voice, either to herself or to her screen. The occasional word drifted to Amethyst on the slight breeze passing through the canyon, but it was nowhere near enough to understand what she was saying. She risked another peek out beyond the edge of the hole in time to see the other Gem beginning to walk away.

_Okay, Amethyst, think. Is this a ‘deal with it yourself’ type of situation, or a ‘tell Garnet’ type of situation?_

Amethyst released a slow breath, wracking her mind for what to do as she watched the Gem’s retreating back. It would be easy enough to go after her. Who knew where she would end up if left alone? But on the other hand, Garnet, Pearl, and Bismuth had once been Homeworld Gems themselves. They would be able to figure out where she was going and how to get rid of her.

The path to the warp pad was now clear. That was all the push she needed to make her decision. Carefully, keeping her steps light, Amethyst crept from the hole and sprinted for the warp pad. As she bounded up the cliffside onto it, she caught a glimpse of the Gem disappearing around a curve of rock before the warp stream carried her home.

* * *

“… He was flying really fast, but then the bad guys came out of nowhere in helicopters! They were all around him! I couldn’t see any way he could get out of that! But then suddenly-“

The sound of the warp pad activating interrupted Steven’s enthusiastic retelling of a movie he had recently seen. Pearl didn’t even look up from the pile of freshly laundered clothes that the two were folding until Steven dropped the shirt in his hands and jumped to his feet. “Amethyst! What’s wrong?”

Pearl finally lifted her gaze from her work to see Amethyst still standing on the warp pad, looking extremely tense as her eyes quickly searched the house. “Where’s Garnet?”

“Out on a solo mission. Has something happened?” Pearl enquired, trying to ignore the horrible feeling creeping up on her.

“We’ve got a problem. I was just at the Kindergarten and I saw a Homeworld Gem.”

The shirt slid from Pearl’s slackened grasp. “Oh no… What kind of Gem? What did she look like?”

“Does it matter? There’s a Homeworld Gem on Earth!” Amethyst flung her arms into the air in frustration. “I don’t know what she’s doing here but we need to stop her! Pearl, come _on!_ ”

“Right.” Pearl stood and crossed swiftly to the warp pad. Steven was right on her heels, unwilling to be left behind.

“Are we going to get Bismuth too?” he asked as he hopped up beside the other two.

“There’s no time. If this Gem is coming to reactivate the Kindergarten…” Pearl left her sentence hanging unfinished as the trio warped away.

Pearl’s hand was securely gripping Steven’s shoulder when they arrived in the bare canyon. Amethyst was already leaping down as he took in his new surroundings with wide eyes. “What is this place? It’s another Gem location, right? But I’ve never seen one that looked like this before.”

“Oh, Steven…” Pearl surveyed the hole-riddled cliffs with a mix of regret and trepidation. “We never wanted you to see this place.”

“Why not?” Steven felt a flicker of dread. Pearl had always been so eager to educate him about all things Gem-related on Earth, including the sites of the most devastating battles. What could have possibly happened here to make her act like this?

Before she could even begin considering how to explain, Amethyst was shouting back to them from almost a hundred feet away. “Are you gonna help or not?”

Without another word Pearl grabbed Steven around the waist and jumped, carrying him safely to the ground. “Don’t wander off,” she warned as she set him on his feet. He made a noise of assent and stayed close as she began to follow Amethyst, though his eyes continued to wander over his unfamiliar surroundings.

Something about the entire canyon seemed distinctly off to him. The cliffs looked unnatural, as thoughthey had been deliberately carved out of solid rock before being worn smooth by weathering. The holes that lined them were certainly not natural in any sense. They looked almost like the silhouettes of people, he observed with a hint of unease. What could have possibly made them?

Just as he was staring at one of the towering machines that littered the canyon, wondering just what its purpose could be, one of its spindly legs moved with a loud creak.

Pearl froze in place, staring in wide-eyed terror. Amethyst had no such problem; in an instant her weapon was in her hand and she was lunging toward the machine. Her whip lashed and the machine collapsed onto its side with an earth-shaking crash, all of its legs and its colossal drill-tipped head falling in a heap beside it.

A shower of rubble fell to the ground with a clatter nearby. Steven looked up to see another Injector beginning to move on the wall high above, dislodging chunks of rock. Pearl seemed completely unaware of it - her eyes were still fixed upon the first one. “Pearl!”

“Don’t just stand there!” Amethyst bolted past and sprang into the air, leaping from hole to hole until she was in range to destroy the new threat. When Pearl still didn’t react, Steven seized her hand and dragged her away from the danger zone. She obeyed his guidance, stumbling blindly after him, but she barely even seemed to notice that she was moving; her pale eyes were staring blankly into the distance, though Steven was sure she was no longer seeing the canyon at all.

“Heads up!” Amethyst yelled. Steven enveloped the two in a protective bubble just as the second machine crashed down beside them, sending up a cloud of dust. Amethyst landed atop it with a grunt a moment later and hopped down, her eyes searching the canyon for more signs of movement.

“Pearl!” Steven was shaking Pearl’s arm as he released the bubble around them. Something seemed to shift behind her eyes and she blinked several times. He called her name again and she looked down at him, her expression disoriented.

“What’s wrong with you, Pearl?” Amethyst was demanding as she stormed over to them. “The Injectors are activating! We need to take them all out and I can’t do it fast enough by myself!”

Pearl’s eyes flickered over the two destroyed machines and she drew a steadying breath. “… Yes. You take that way, I’ll take this way.”

“Don’t freeze up again!” Amethyst warned before charging toward the next Injector. Pearl was summoning her spear as she turned to do the same.

The sounds of destruction echoed around the canyon as the two Gems dismantled the machines that were struggling to activate. Steven covered his ears against the noise as he stood huddled in the shelter of one of the broken Injectors, wishing he could be of more use. His eyes lingered for a moment on Amethyst, whose whip was flashing almost too quickly to follow as it sliced straight through metal, before drifting past a large square hole in the ground to watch Pearl, who was leaping over the remains of one machine to throw her spear through the drill head of a second.

Steven paused momentarily before turning his gaze back to the hole. In the darkness of the canyon he had nearly missed it, but now he realized how much it stood out. All of the other holes were in the walls, not to mention humanoid. There was no doubt that this one was significant.

He glanced around in case of any more danger before beginning to approach the pit. All that he could see inside was a green glow emanating from somewhere beneath the ground, illuminating what resembled a flat stone slide that led deep down beneath the surface. It looked like a safe enough descent so he stepped onto the slope without hesitation. The chaos of destruction on both sides drowned out the sound of the warp pad activating again just as Steven began to slide carefully down into the tunnel.

The floor of the pathway beneath his shoes was smooth enough to keep his balance as he slid down, feet braced apart as though on a surfboard, trying his best not to fall over as he gathered speed. The walls and ceiling rushing past him were lined with countless tubes easily thicker around than his own body. They glowed with an ominous greenish light, which faintly illuminated the path ahead as he descended. He glanced back up at the receding patch of sunlight, wondering if he should have waited until the other two were done and could accompany him. But then abruptly the slope came to an end and Steven toppled forward onto flat ground, his momentum carrying him forward on his belly into the control room beyond.

The first thing he saw when he looked up was a pair of boots right in front of him. The unknown Gem Amethyst had seen was standing with her back to him, one hand resting against a control pedestal in front of her while the free-floating fingers of her other hand slid over the large screen hovering in midair. As he pushed himself up onto his knees, his gaze drifted past her to the enormous hexagonal opening which took up most of the far wall, beyond which he could see a massive crystalline structure that was clearly the source of the ominous light. Countless tubes snaked out of the surrounding walls to connect to it, seemingly drawing energy from it.

The Gem let out a frustrated growl and Steven returned his attention to her. Her fingers were tapping impatiently at the screen; it was flickering unsteadily, seemingly unresponsive to her commands. “Come on, work! Ugh, stupid Era One tech,” she muttered under her breath. “It’s like _nothing_ on this planet works right. Not half the warp pads, not the Kindergarten control center, not the-“

Her words cut off in an undignified yelp; she had turned away from the screen abruptly to find Steven standing right behind her. He greeted her with a friendly smile. “Hello! I’m Steven. What’re you doing down here?”

The Gem eyed him with disdain. “I am here on orders to reactivate the Kindergarten. The more appropriate question is what are _you_ doing here? There shouldn’t be any… _Stevens_ in the control room.”

“Are you the one activating those huge machines outside?” he enquired, staring at the screen that flickered above the pedestal behind her. It was covered in strange silhouettes and vaguely familiar glyphs that he thought he had seen at various other Gem locations.

“Steven! Get back!” The cry came from behind him; he spun around just in time to see Garnet leap from the stone ramp to land right beside him. She had already summoned her gauntlets and both fists were clenched at the ready as she faced down the other Gem, who had retreated a step in alarm. “A Peridot. So you’re the one trying to reactivate the Kindergarten. This is Pink Diamond’s planet! Leave at once!”

Though clearly intimidated by the obvious threat, Peridot stood her ground. “This _was_ Pink Diamond’s planet. Now that she no longer exists, Yellow Diamond has decided to finish what was started here.”

“Pink chose to give this planet to us!” Garnet retaliated. “Her decision still stands even if she’s no longer among us! You can tell Yellow Diamond that this planet is our home and we’re going to fight for it!”

“Pink Diamond’s group of rebels are all defective! Every Homeworld Gem knows that! Even _I_ have superiority over you! And if you think I’m going to take orders from a fus-“

Peridot was cut off when Garnet lunged. She dived to the side just in time to avoid a powerful punch which struck the control pedestal, shattering it in an explosion of rubble. Garnet didn’t follow Peridot as she skittered away; her next punch passed straight through the screen, causing it to fizzle out of existence, before colliding with the crystalline structure beyond it. A web of cracks spread over its surface and the light was immediately extinguished, plunging all of them into semi-darkness.

“No!” Peridot groaned in dismay at the damage, only to immediately stiffen when Garnet turned on her next. Steven, who had backed up against a wall to be out of the way, felt a shiver run up his spine at the sight of her expression. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her so angry before in his life.

“I’m giving you one final choice,” Garnet stated. “Either you can go back to Homeworld and tell Yellow Diamond that this planet is and will always be ours to defend, or I can put you in a bubble right now.”

For a moment it looked as though Peridot was pulling herself together to respond defiantly. But before she could condemn herself, the sound of scraping earth reached the trio. Steven tore his gaze away and looked up to see two more figures leap from the ramp to join them; Pearl and Amethyst, both with weapons in hand and looking ready for a fight. Pearl placed herself protectively in front of Steven without a word while Amethyst took up a position at the foot of the ramp, waiting for an excuse to strike.

Clearly even Peridot’s pride could not outweigh her self-preservation instinct when outnumbered four to one. “F-fine. Fine, I’ll leave. I’m leaving.”

“I’ll make sure you do.” Garnet’s gauntlets vanished in a shimmer of light and she stepped forward, seizing Peridot by the back of her uniform before she could dodge away again.

“Hey! What are you doing?” the Gem protested loudly as she was lifted effortlessly off the ground. Her legs kicked uselessly in the air. “This is completely undignified - put me down!”

Garnet ignored her struggles completely as she turned to the others. “Take Steven home. I’ll meet up with you there once I ensure this Gem won’t be coming back.”

“Let go of me immediately, clod! I told you I’m leav-” Peridot’s protests ended abruptly with a yelp when Garnet leaped, launching the two of them up into the darkened tunnel.

When the control room had fallen silent, Pearl let her spear vanish as she turned to Steven. He was still standing against the wall, staring up at Garnet’s rapidly retreating silhouette against the distant square of sunlight, but his attention shifted to Pearl when she crouched down before him. “Steven, are you hurt?”

“No, I’m okay.” He offered her a smile but her expression remained solemn.

“What were you thinking, coming down here alone? You shouldn’t have even been anywhere near this place.” She glanced uneasily around the control room. Steven followed her gaze, once again wondering about its purpose.

“Blame yourself for that, P.” Amethyst had come over to join them. “You didn’t try to stop him coming, did you?”

Pearl’s expression went blank for a moment before she shook it off. But before she could say anything more, Steven had spoken up. “What is this place, anyway? I know it’s called the Kindergarten, but what was it for? What was Peridot trying to do?”

Pearl bit her lip and glanced at Amethyst, who averted her gaze and scuffed her boot against the ground. A moment passed in silence before Pearl sighed. “You do have a right to know… It’s a long story. Let’s go home first, then I’ll tell you everything.”

Steven nodded as she straightened up. Amethyst had already taken a running start to the foot of the ramp and launched herself up after Garnet. Pearl followed her to the slope at a slower pace, Steven at her side. He cast one final look at the cracked and inactive core before Pearl scooped him up under her arm and sprang up after the others into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> In case it isn't already clear, events in this AU are not happening in the same order or at the same point. This was Steven's first visit to the Kindergarten. Some small events may remain the same, but even that will become far less common as the story develops.


End file.
